1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments of the inventive concept relate to an image sensor and an image processing system including the same, and more particularly, to an image sensor capable of reducing power consumption therein and an image processing system including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A solid-state imaging device which uses a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) is called the CMOS image sensor. The CMOS image sensor is known as low manufacturing costs, a small size, and low energy consumption, compared to the charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor which employs a high-voltage analog circuit. Also, as the performance of the CMOS image sensor has been improved since its inception, this image sensor has been widely used in home appliances and portable devices such as smartphones, digital cameras, etc.
Recently, research has been actively conducted on improving the quality of an image to be generated by the CMOS image sensor that has been in a high demand. In particular, the resolution of a counter included in the CMOS image sensor has been enhanced to increase the quality of an image obtained by the CMOS image sensor. However, the higher the resolution of the counter, the greater the power consumption in the image sensor. Accordingly, there is a growing need to develop a method of solving this problem.